Wednesday, April 15, 2009
DVD oddity
Maybe that 29-DVD set of Wim Wenders films from Hong Kong was not quite the great deal I'd thought, despite the very low price. Apart from some of the films being in German with only Chinese subtitles (oops), there is an oddity: On all of those I've viewed so far, the Extras option can't be selected. I've tried both a regular DVD player and a computer. It's like they just forgot to add the link to the graphic, but that's absurd. The DVDs otherwise play fine (they are region-free or Region zero or whatever). Anybody have any idea why this would be so?
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11 comments:
One way to check out what the cause might be would be to use the computer to list the files and try to play some directly. (I know I've done this before, but right now, I don't remember what I did. Try VLC or MPEG Streamclip.) If the files are present, then it was just a broken link and you can play the files on the computer. If not, then ...
Pat McGee
So what type of discs are they? DVD-W with a purplish cast to them, or proper burnt DVDs? I know some copies of DVD's I have seen were ripped from dual layer, and burnt to single. They tend to be missing the extras.
I got a VCD of Superted from Thailand. The dubbing was awful, and the colours on the packaging were wrong.
Ever heard of pirates?
Oh, those guys.
They look like proper DVDs.
I can list the files and play most of them, but there's nothing which seems like it might be an extra.
I'd guess they are pirate dvds. I live in Thailand and have very easy access to these type of dvds and very, very often they copy the disc but leave off the extras. The menus will have it but what they do is recompress the video to fit a 5GB size rather than 9GB. And to make it fit and keep the res decent they drop anything they can. Most asians don't care about that stuff so no one worries and at $2/disc they hardly can.
Is the serial number around the hub/hole visible or has it been burned off? That is one sure sign. When pressing them they don't like it to be traced back to the machine/factory so they burn the serial.
Of course you can get to commentary tracks by the "Audio" button on your players remote.
I've never had the "angle" button work though.
... use the computer to list the files and try to play some directly.I think that's a basic point - at least I would do that first. I don't know the Mac, on my PC I would use any file manager like Explorer or Total Commander in order to have a direct look into the DVD (into the Audio directory as well as into the Video directory). And if the files are not there, then there is nothing to play ...
Try to open the disc in Cinematize.
You can see the all DVD structure.
If it opens, it's not protected!
Even though they came in a nice presentation box, it's starting to look like they are indeed pirated DVDs.
(the sound track button does not give a commentary track, even though the menus have one.)
Near the hub is some chinese characters. But in the innermost ring is a strange marking which may actually be a serial number which has been burned off.
I wonder why they bother, I heard China does not care about int. copyright.
Yup. Sometimes the burn looks more like a little blotch or glue smear inside. As for why they bother - well you know, as usual, money. Over here the majority of people just won't buy real discs due to the cost. A pirate one sells for 100 baht and the real ones in the store sell for around 800 baht. I can understand how they don't want to spend that much when their monthly income is $200 but when sellers start offloading them in high income western countries it does bother me. If you bought it on ebay you could definitely file a complaint and dispute with paypal for "item not as described". Actually that should work for any paypal purchase. They will hold funds until you return the item regardless of whatever policy the seller claims and will return the full amount after. Make sure you have a tracking # for the return otherwise the seller can claim you didn't return it. Just info in case it helps.
Yes, a little blotch.
Thanks.
I'm not sure it's worth it to return it in this case.
But I have use eBay protection once, I bought a Nikon FM camera, and it was in worse condition than the photos had shown, and the serial number was different!
I got the money back, and even got to keep the camera (which I gave to a friend).
"Ever heard of pirates?"Yeah, they aggressively board your ship whenever you get vaguely close to the Somalian coasts, and once aboard they pester you to try and sell you bootleg movies and videogames. ;-)
"Is the serial number around the hub/hole visible or has it been burned off? That is one sure sign."Ah. That's what I thought it was.
Nobody would go through such extra effort without a reason, would they?
"I've never had the "angle" button work though."It's a DVD option which, apparently, no film-makers were interested by.
Still... in the animated movie Sinbad, I discovered easter eggs on the main title screen. Three parts of the image can be highlighted, and each will play you a specific scene of the movie, the exact same scene... no, not from a different angle, but from a different point of view! Really. Each one shows you the scene following one of the film's supporting characters. Quite interesting.
Especially when you think that each of these scenes meant some consistent extra work for the animators, in the same high quality as the rest of the movie.
Now, THAT's showing the fans some pleasant consideration. :-)
"(the sound track button does not give a commentary track, even though the menus have one.)"That's another rather reliable sign. Take it from a Lebanese.
"I heard China does not care about int. copyright."I heard that the best quality pirated DVDs are from Malaysia...
"Yup. Sometimes the burn looks more like a little blotch or glue smear inside."That's an affirmative, my good man.
This low income country knows that stuff well too.
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